water ways
A photographer's meditation on the beauty of the Washington State Ferries
Words by David Albright
& Kristopher Shinn
Photos by Kristopher Shinn
Kristopher Shinn’s photo book By Way of Water is a meditation on the beauty that can be found riding the ferry. But instead of looking out at sweeping views of water, sky and mountains, Shinn looks in, at the faux-leather booths or a quiet moment between a solo commuter and their newspaper.
Shinn started up in photography around 2015 in the San Francisco Bay Area—shooting landscapes on a digital camera. During the pandemic he moved to Seattle, and his mom gifted him something that would change the way he would think about photography from then on: a film camera that had belonged to his dad who passed away when he was 18.
“I had kind of hit a wall with digital photography and wasn’t feeling super inspired anymore. The film camera changed all that.” Shinn told me. “This new approach to taking pictures ignited a fire in me that I’ve been chasing ever since.”
His dad’s film camera, along with frequent ferry trips to visit family on both Bainbridge Island and in Bremerton, inspired a whole new thread in his work that eventually led to his photo book.
Come along with me on a visual journey through Shinn’s work. I recommend finding yourself a comfy seat—maybe one where you can see the water—and take as long with each photo as you take with the vignettes that accompany them. All of the following words are his, adapted from our conversation.
Inside, the ferries are stuck in time—the booths especially. Some of them are tan or baby blue. One has these dark rich reds that I think are beautiful. Each ferry is different and I like to try to capture each aesthetic. If you get lucky you have a nice sunny day and you start to get some of the patterns of the shadows that bounce off the booths. That’s always what I’m looking for.
There was one time on the ferry between Anacortes and Orcas Island, I came up the stairs from the auto deck and I remember being just like, “holy crap.” The light was perfect, shining on the golden-brown booths. The colors in this photo just came out so rich and exactly how I saw it when I came up those stairs.
I try to be like a fly on the wall, and that’s easier to do when people don’t see you. I love coming across people that are having their own moments on the ferry. I’m drawn to those tender moments between members of the same family, or lovers, or maybe someone who is by themselves and taking in some of that same beauty that I always find myself taking in when I’m on the ferry.
I feel a lightness when I’m on the ferry. I’ve been going through some health struggles lately, and that’s been weighing heavily on me because there’s this uncertainty of like, is this my new normal? I’ve noticed that recently being on the ferries is almost like an escape from all that.
This whole project is just kind of shining a different light on something that people might take for granted. Sharing my appreciation for how beautiful it can be, navigating this area on water instead of sitting in traffic.
It’s the little things. I try to take pictures of the things that people may overlook, because it all makes up a part of the overall experience of being on the ferry. If you’re walking around on the sundeck and you walk past that fire hose holder, or the orange lights that guide your way when it’s dark, or a mop in the corner that’s just by itself but the colors around it are really beautiful. It may not seem significant on its own, but I’m trying to paint a bigger picture.
